Flacco looking at $20 million per year?

It’s not everyday that a franchise QB is allowed to get to the final year of his contract unless he’s old, hurt or both. Baltimore Ravens QB Joe Flacco is none of those things. But, because he tends to win a lot of games yet not put up filthy numbers, his value is to be debated.

Well, now he’s in Super Bowl 47 with a chance to win it all. This is his last game before he hits free agency and ESPN’s John Clayton and Chris Mortensen think he’s got enough leverage to land a $20 million per year payday from the Ravens.

“He’s now made a case for $20 million a year,” Clayton said on SportsCenter Monday. “And I think he’s gonna try to hold to that. Last season what I was hearing was he was asking for about $17 million. … (We’ll) see if he can get over Drew Brees’ contract. I think he can.”

Mortensen agreed, and we do too.

It’s not that Flacco is the second coming of Joe Montana, nor will he ever be. But, you know what you have in him and he’s consistently solid. The Ravens falling short of the Super Bowl last year had nothing to do with his play. And what are the alternatives for Baltimore? What else are you going to get? There is a lot of sloppy QB play out there and the Ravens know it.

Of course, they could always slap him with the franchise tag, which would be in the $14 million for one season area.